Posted
by
Unknown Lameron Monday March 11, 2013 @08:08PM
from the you're-going-down dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The Electronic Frontier Foundation has entered the fray to defend the bloggers sued by Prenda Law Firm. Prenda, oblivious to such well known legal niceties as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the affirmative defense of truth, the difference between a defamatory statement of fact and the expression of a negative opinion, and the First Amendment, has immediately — and illegally — sought to subpoena information leading to the identities of the bloggers. I would not be surprised to see these "lawyers" get into even more hot water than they're already in. And I take my hat off to the EFF for stepping in here."

Unfortunately, such optimism is not justified. The copyright absolutists have friends in all three branches of government, and their harsh and punitive stance plays well with harsh and punitive judges, especially when the defendants aren't all that sympathetic. The rules of procedure will be bent well past the breaking point for them, while ridiculously narrow interpretations of the same rules will be applied to the defense.

As much as they may want to, they simply cannot take on every case that crops up. They have to go for higher profile ones, at least in part because it helps get them donations that they obviously use to take on other cases; plus they no doubt vet a case before agreeing to take it on, just because someone is decrying the end of free speech does not mean that there are not other facts in play that they simply aren't telling people in the news articles.